What’s the number one cause of failure and keeping you from getting totally focused? It’s one single, simple little word, but it can make or break you.

Distraction!

More people fail due to being and staying distracted. It’s no secret that a lot of big marketers want you to stay distracted so you’ll keep buying their next product to finally learn “the secret.” It’s kind of ironic that they do mention you need to get focused, but you most likely skim that part.

All successful people have one thing in common. It does not matter what their niche is, what business model they use, or what their product offering is. The one thing that they have, and you need to have, is focus. They don’t let anything distract them from working and building their business.

By having laser focus on their business building and working during their work hours, they have the luxury of having more free time. They are in control of their time. I know you’ve seen these guys posting pictures of their latest travels or vacation and you wonder how they can run a business and goof off so much. It’s because of focus. They focus on business when it’s business time and they focus on play time when it’s play time.

How can you develop more focus?

1. Decide and define what matters to you. You need a strong passion and a strong reason for why you want to build and run an online business. Until you decide and commit to that, you’ll likely keep floundering around, distracted.

2. Make a list of 3 things you must do each day. These should be tasks that actually grow your business or your online presence. Do not do anything else until these 3 tasks are completed.

3. Avoid email, social media and anything else that distracts you. There is a time for these things, but while you are working on the 3 tasks mentioned above, you need to turn everything else off and tune it out.

4. Do not multi-task! I know, you think you’ll save time by doing 3 things at once. Unfortunately this rarely ever saves time. Give your full attention to each task. If you focus only on one thing at a time, you’ll likely end up finishing before you thought you would. That creates more free time for you.

If you’re a parent I’m sure you’ve read advice to give each child their own special time with you if you have more than one child. Each child needs some one-on-one attention from their parents. It builds their self-esteem and makes them feel special. Treat your tasks as children if you need to. Spend time with each task. Give that task your undivided love and attention.

5. Take breaks. Try to do this before you start losing focus and feeling distracted. You can push this to the last minute, but by doing so you’ll likely waste time trying to push through something. Instead, go take a short walk or enjoy a soda, coffee or tea away from your work station. Go have a few minutes of “you” time to regroup. Be sure to set a timer or an alarm on your phone so you get back to work after your allotted break time.

Focus can be a hard thing to master, but the more distractions you remove from your work time, the more you’ll get accomplished. Clear out the clutter and close off the world until you’ve done your tasks. You’ll be surprised how much free time you can create by doing this. One day you may even be the one posting those pictures of exotic places.